World of Warships News

Destroyer Błyskawica was one of the most powerful and fastest ships of her type built in the 1930s.

She took part in the battle for Norway and the landings in Normandy, defended British cities from the raids of German bombers, and hunted for submarines. After World War II, the ship remained in service in the Navy of the Polish People’s Republic until 1976, becoming a museum ship afterwards. Błyskawica is the world's oldest surviving destroyer. Now you have a chance to take command of her in World of Warships!
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In the early 1930s, the small Polish Navy was in great need of new modern warships. In May 1933, Rear Admiral Jerzy Świrski, the Commander of the Polish Navy, announced a tender for the construction of two new destroyers. It was originally planned that French shipbuilders, who had already built two Wicher-class destroyers for the Polish Navy (based on the design of the Bourrasque-class ships), would do the job. However, negotiations with all the French shipyards failed. In early 1934, the order was offered to Swedish shipbuilders, but they rejected it as well. Finally, in 1935, the Poles chose the British project proposed by the famous J. Samuel White company. In September of the same year, the construction of two ships began at the shipyards in Cowes in the south of England. The ships received their names in accordance with the traditions for Polish Navy destroyers—in honor of weather phenomena: Grom (Polish for "thunder") and Błyskawica (Polish for "lightning").

The new class of destroyers turned out to be extremely powerful. Błyskawica, which entered service on November 25, 1937, was armed with seven 120 mm main battery guns (more than some World War I cruisers), two twin 40 mm AA guns, four twin machine gun mounts, two triple torpedo tubes, and a large reserve of depth charges. Most of the weapons were made in Sweden. On top of the aforementioned features, the new Polish ship reached speeds of up to 39 knots during her trials, beating other similarly armed destroyers of that period, such as the British Tribal-class destroyers. This was achieved at the price of reduced seakeeping characteristics, but they were still considered sufficient for the Baltic Sea.

Just prior to the outbreak of World War II, Błyskawica, Grom, and an older French-built destroyer, Burza, were transferred from the Baltic to the U.K. Błyskawica joined the British Navy as an Allied ship, taking part in battles under the Polish flag.

The destroyer debuted in combat just a week after the war began—on September 7, 1939. Błyskawica attacked a German submarine, but without success. However, the real action for the Polish sailors began in April and May 1940, when their ship took part in the Norwegian campaign. Błyskawica bombarded German positions, managed to shoot down two aircraft, and returned to the U.K. safe and sound. Grom wasn't so lucky—she was destroyed during a German bomber raid.

Right afterwards, Błyskawica participated in the evacuation of British troops from Dunkirk during Operation Dynamo, and then she was mainly engaged in escorting convoys and hunting German U-boats in the Atlantic. Błyskawica accompanied the liner, Queen Mary, which had been converted into a military transport ship. Most British destroyers found it difficult to keep up with the world's fastest liner, which was capable of maintaining an average speed of 28.5 knots while crossing the Atlantic. It didn’t pose a problem for the Polish "Lightning."

From June to November 1941, the destroyer underwent an overhaul and repairs, which included refurbishment at her native shipyard in Cowes. During this, her Swedish 120 mm guns were replaced with eight British 102 mm dual-purpose guns in four twin mounts. In April 1942, a storm damaged the ship's propulsion unit, which put Błyskawica out of action until mid-July. On the night that bridged May 4 and 5, 1942, 160 German bombers attacked Cowes. During the raid, Błyskawica supported the Allies with fire from her AA guns, while her crew actively participated in firefighting and rescuing the injured. In 2004, a town square in Cowes was named Francki Place, in honor of Błyskawica's Commander, komandor porucznik Wojciech Francki.

In 1944, Błyskawica, as part of the 10th Destroyer Flotilla, along with British and Canadian destroyers, took part in Operation Overlord, supporting the landings of the Allied forces in Normandy. On June 9, in the English Channel, eight Allied destroyers discovered and attacked a detachment of three German destroyers and one torpedo boat. The battle at Ushant was the only engagement involving surface warships in which destroyer Błyskawica took part. At the same time, it was the last action of large German ships in the west and the final major naval battle in the European theater. This battle marked a decisive victory for the Allies—the Germans lost two of the four ships, and were unable to complete their missions.

In May 1946, flags were taken down on Polish ships and their crews were demobilized. The ships were formally transferred to the British Navy reserve, but Royal Navy flags were never raised on them. Between 1951 and 1952, the ship underwent another overhaul. This time, the British artillery was replaced with Soviet 100 mm B-24 guns.

In 1956, the ship reached an incredible 33 knots on measured distance, but recurrent technical challenges with her propulsion, as well as radio and electronic equipment, were indicative of a need for more repairs. The ship underwent overhauls in 1957–1961 and 1965–1966, but in 1967, a serious propulsion unit accident occurred, killing several crew members. Since the restoration of the ship would have required replacing all her steam pipelines, it was decided that her further operation was inexpedient. She was converted into a coastal AA defense ship, and in 1976, was permanently berthed in Gdynia as a museum ship. In 1987, the Polish Navy veteran ship was awarded the Golden Cross of the Virtuti Militari Order—the country's highest military award. Before her, not a single ship under the Polish flag had received such an honor. In 2006, Błyskawica was "twinned" with her long-time comrade-in-arms, Canadian destroyer Haida, which is also preserved as a museum ship in Hamilton.



In the game, the ship is featured in her state as of 1939, when World War II began.

Main battery: Seven 120 mm/50 Bofors guns in three twin and one single turrets.

Torpedo armament: Two triple 533 mm torpedo tubes.

Anti-aircraft armament: Two twin 40 mm Bofors AA gun mounts and four twin machine gun mounts with 13.2 mm Hotchkiss machine guns.

• Priority Target
  
• Last Stand
  
• Survivability Expert
  
• Concealment Expert

• Priority Target
  
• Last Stand
  
• Survivability Expert
  
• Concealment Expert
  
• Inertia Fuse for HE Shells
  
• Basic Firing Training
  
• Jack of All Trades

• Main Armaments Modification 1
  
• Steering Gears Modification 1 or Engine Boost Modification 1
• Aiming Systems Modification 1
  
• Steering Gears Modification 2

One of the strongest destroyers of her time. Polish Navy ship VII Błyskawica stands for first-class mobility, top-notch artillery guns, and effective torpedoes. A true gift for those who value diversity in their choice of tactics.

• Excellent speed of 39 knots
  
• Nice HP pool for a destroyer
  
• Seven rapid-firing 120 mm guns with a good reach and comfortable ballistics
  
• Effective torpedoes with a range of 8 km and a fast reload time—within 70 seconds
  
• She earns extra credits per battle, and her permanent camouflage provides 50% more XP and reduces the cost of the ship's post-battle service by –10%

• IX Georgia’s Japanese anti-torpedo defense!
  
• Shock! Is I Orlan overpowered?
  
• Discover VII Vauquelin’s true power!
  
• IX Musashi strikes back!

Would you like to discover what’s behind these stories? Then watch the new episode of the WoWS Show!
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Did you enjoy this episode? Subscribe to our channel to stay informed about the next instalments!

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You need to log in to the website https://replayswows.com using your Wargaming account credentials. Then click the "Upload Replay" button and share your in-game stories! Don't forget to write the names of the show and your ship in the "Title" section, to ensure that we don't miss your replay. Example: #WOWSHOW (Tirpitz).


To be approved for our show, a replay should correspond to the following criteria:

• Duration of an episode or a pack of mini episodes shouldn't exceed one minute.
  
• Episodes should be funny, interesting, or just plain epic. The more entertaining; the better!

Any player can send us an unlimited number of replays. Players will receive a reward for every replay chosen for the show!

In the dark night that bridges October 31 and November 1, hordes of dismal evil creatures squeeze out of their shelters and creep all around the earth, set on conquering new lands!

But don’t be afraid—World of Warships Commanders are out on the hunt for them in the name of glorious tradition. Last year's Operations and a new game mode are coming soon!

• The first takes place throughout Update 0.8.9. It will mark the return of the Saving Transylvania and Sunray in the Darkness Operations.
  
• The second takes place between October 31 and November 28. You'll be able to try out a new game mode—Raid for the Filth!

From this article, you'll learn about what changes to expect in comparison with last year's Operations and new rewards. We'll provide you more details about the new mode in a separate dedicated article. Stay tuned for news on our website!

Both Operations will be available as Operations of the Week. They can be completed in a Division at three different difficulty levels.

Having completed the Operations, you'll be rewarded with expendable camos, signals, and Warships Premium Account time.

This year, you'll be able to try your hand in the Operations in a Division, not only at the Normal and Hard difficulty settings, but also at Super Hard difficulty. The first completion of a Super Hard Operation with three stars or more will bring you Halloween 2018 Premium containers. These might include expendable camos, doubloons, Free XP, and a certain chance of dropping permanent Halloween camos from the previous years.




Operation Saving Transylvania is available at Normal difficulty as an Operation of the Week from October 17 to 24, and from October 31 to November 7. Also, the Operation can be completed in a Division of 4–7 people throughout Update 0.8.9.

The main task is to escort a ship called Transylvania on her winding route to a safe place, protecting her from the attacks of catapults and Zikasa ships possessed by the darkness on the way. At the end of this journey, players will face the final boss—the evil and dangerous battleship Rasputin.

• Destroyer III Blade with Commander Abraham V. Hellsinger
  
• Cruiser III Igor with Commander Victor F. Einstein
  
• Battleship III Jackal with Commander Henry J. Hide

Halloween Commanders earn Elite XP that can be spent on training Commanders.

Escort and protect ship Transylvania.




Apart from the main task—escorting Transylvania to the Portal—players can complete five secondary tasks which will enhance their reward for completing the primary task:

• Transylvania must not lose 50% or more of her HP during the voyage.
  
• Destroy at least 16 Zikasa ships.
  
• Neutralize all catapults on the map.
  
• Transylvania must not stop until reaching the end of the route. To ensure that this condition is completed, at least one player should always remain near the ship.
  
• Sink battleship Rasputin.

• One Star—5x India Delta, 5x Juliet Charlie, and 5x Mike Yankee Soxisix signals
  
• Two Stars—5x Sierra Mike, 5x India X-Ray, and 5x Juliet Whiskey Unaone signals
  
• Three Stars—5x Type 3 – Halloween camos
  
• Four Stars—5x Halloween camos
  
• Five Stars—1 day of Warships Premium Account

• One Star—5x Type 3 – Halloween camos
  
• Two Stars—5x Halloween camos
  
• Three Stars—5x Wyvern signals
  
• Four Stars—5x Hydra signals
  
• Five Stars—5x Ouroboros and 5x Scylla signals and 1 day of Warships Premium Account

• One Star—5x Halloween camos
  
• Two Stars—5x Type 59 camos
  
• Three Stars—1x Halloween 2018 Premium container
  
• Four Stars—1x Halloween 2018 Premium container
  
• Five Stars—1x Halloween 2018 Premium container

The Sunray in the Darkness Operation is available as an Operation of the Week from October 24 to 31, and from November 7 to 14. Also, the Operation can be completed in a Division of 4–7 people throughout Update 0.8.9.

Operation Sunray in the Darkness acts as a kind of sequel to Operation Saving Transylvania. When Transylvania and her defenders return to their home realm, they face an even bigger evil. Now, the entire kingdom is at risk! The most advanced ships of the royal fleet are awaiting your orders to put a stop to the invasion and save the civilians!

The Forces of Darkness are breaking through the Portal. Your mission is to fend off their attacks, but you won't be alone. The security towers will try to seal the Portal, and your mission is to protect the towers from enemy ships. Along with the monsters flooding through it, the Filth—a dense green mist—is leaking through the Portal and endangering all life itself. Beware! When in the Filth, your ship receives damage each second. The amount of damage you receive depends on the type of your ship. Besides this, visibility decreases significantly when in the Filth. Adversely, the Filth heals your enemies, restoring their hit points, and reduces the amount of damage they receive. Keep in mind that your main task is to protect the towers while they are sealing the Portal.

• Destroyer VIII Urashima with Commander Mina Hurray
  
• Cruiser VIII Svyatozar with Commander Ivan K. Ulibin
  
• Battleship VIII Magnu-S with Commander Klaus V. Teslau

Protect the towers until they seal the Portal.




Players can also complete five secondary tasks which will enhance their reward for completing the primary task:

• Successfully defend at least two towers.
  
• Destroy Rasputin.
  
• Destroy the Great Gorgon.
  
• Destroy 30 enemy ships in the Filth.
  
• Successfully defend Transylvania.

• One Star—5x India Delta, 5x Juliet Charlie, and 5x Mike Yankee Soxisix signals
  
• Two Stars—5x Sierra Mike, 5x India X-Ray, and 5x Juliet Whiskey Unaone signals
  
• Three Stars—5x Type 3 – Halloween camos
  
• Four Stars—5x Halloween camos
  
• Five Stars—1 day of Warships Premium Account

• One Star—5x Type 3 – Halloween camos
  
• Two Stars—5x Halloween camos
  
• Three Stars—5x Dragon signals
  
• Four Stars—5x Red Dragon signals
  
• Five Stars—5x Basilisk and 5x Leviathan signals and 1 day of Warships Premium Account

• One Star—5x Type 3 – Halloween camos
  
• Two Stars—5x Type 59 camos
  
• Three Stars—1x Halloween 2018 Premium container
  
• Four Stars—1x Halloween 2018 Premium container
  
• Five Stars—1x Halloween 2018 Premium container

Please note: only the special ships are available for each Operation! When Update 0.8.10 is released, all special ships will be removed from your accounts. Once the event is over, any XP earned playing the special ships will be transferred to Tier I cruiser Orlan.

Pumpkin-like containers are traditional elements of celebrating Halloween. From these containers you will be able to get the Halloween camouflages from Operations "Saving Transylvania" and "Sunray in the Darkness".


The container holds one of the following items:

• Special camouflage for destroyer Wakatake—Blade
  
• Special camouflage for battleships Nassau—Jackal
  
• Special camouflage for cruiser St. Louis (U.S.A.)—Igor
  
• Special camouflage for destroyer Kagero—Urashima
  
• Special camouflage for cruiser Chapayev—Svyatozar
  
• Special camouflage for battleship Tirpitz: Magnu-S
  
• Special camouflage for aircraft carrier Lexington—Nobilium
  
• Special camouflage for destroyer Benson—Ghoul
  
• Special camouflage for cruiser Charles Martel—Scarab
  
• Special camouflage for battleship Bismarck—Varg
  
• Special camouflage for aircraft carrier Shokaku—The Great Gorgon
  
• Special camouflage for battleship North Carolina—Leviathan
  
• Special camouflage for destroyer Kiev—Razorworm
  
• Special camouflage for destroyer Z-23—Steel Rat
  
• The first animated special camouflage for cruiser Mogami—Octopus
  
• 15x "Type 3 – Halloween" camouflage patterns
  
• 15x "Halloween" camouflage patterns
  
• 15x "Storm Wind" camouflage patterns
  
• 15x "Restless Fire" camouflage patterns
  
• 15x "Blue Lagoon" camouflage patterns
  
• 25,000 Free XP
  
• 2,500 doubloons

Complete the themed Operations, protect the world from the Forces of Darkness, and claim your rewards!

Please note that the servers will be temporarily unavailable due to the release of an update. The schedule is available below.
Maintenance times are tentative and subject to change. Please accept our apologies for any inconveniences.

The new update will go live some time after it's been downloaded because the client and server sides are updated separately. While the client begins to update immediately, it takes time for the servers to be updated across all regions.

If there are problems with downloading or launching the update—please perform files integrity check.

Subtitles can be enabled in the video player separately.
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Italian Tier V–VIII cruisers in Early Access; the return of some familiar Halloween Operations; a new temporary game mode—Raid for the Filth—with three teams in each battle; a new Season of Clan Battles; and much more!

• Excellent maneuverability
  
• Starting from Tier VI, cruisers are equipped with powerful 203 mm guns
  
• Semi-armor-piercing (SAP) shells that combine the features of both AP and HE shells
  
• The Exhaust Smoke Generator consumable that can conceal a ship in smoke without it having to reduce speed

Complete Directives to earn "Italian Cruisers" containers which have a certain chance of dropping a combat mission that unlocks Early Access to one of the Italian cruisers: V Raimondo Montecuccoli, VI Trento, VII Zara, or VIII Amalfi. Two more containers will be available via Daily Shipments.

Completing missions and Directives will bring you signals, expendable camouflages, Elite Commander XP, credits, Free XP, Coal, Italian Cruisers containers, and a new temporary resource—Italian Tokens.


The new game event tasks you with completing 42 missions across four Directives. You can start progressing in the next Directive only once you've completed six missions from the previous one. To obtain the final award, you have to complete eight missions of the fourth Directive.

Directives are available for players with open access to combat missions in their Service Record. Novice players will have to play 70 battles in any accessible battle mode in order to unlock them.

A new tab dedicated to the Italian cruisers has been added to the Armory.

Exchange Italian Tokens for "Patria e Onore" random bundles with valuable rewards. One of the 22 bundles contains the main reward—Italian cruiser V Genova.

• Regia Marina expendable camouflages
  
• Credits
  
• Days of Premium Account
  
• Signals
  
• Italian Cruisers containers
  
• "Grigio-azzurro chiaro" permanent camouflages for cruisers V Raimondo Montecuccoli, VI Trento, VII Zara, and VIII Amalfi

Italian Tokens will be available throughout Update 0.8.9 only. After Update 0.8.10 goes live, they will only be obtainable from Italian Cruisers Premium containers. With the release of Update 0.8.11, all Italian Tokens will be converted into credits at a rate of 1:4,500.

https://steamcommunity.com/games/552990/announcements/detail/3310634471611718526

In the dark night that bridges October 31 and November 1, hordes of lurking evil creatures sliver out of their shelters and creep all over the earth, set on conquering new lands! Join forces with other players to save Transylvania, and defend the waters of the Silver Spear Archipelago—fight back the forces of darkness in these frighteningly familiar Operations! This year, you'll be able to try your hand in the Operations as part of a Division, not only at Normal and Hard difficulty settings, but also at the new Super Hard difficulty. The first completion of a Super Hard Operation with three stars or more will bring you Halloween 2018 Premium containers. These can include expendable camouflages, doubloons, Free XP, and have a certain chance of dropping one of the permanent Halloween-themed camos from the previous years.

• Destroyer III Blade with Commander Abraham V. Hellsinger
  
• Cruiser III Igor with Commander Victor F. Einstein
  
• Battleship III Jackal with Commander Henry J. Hide

• Destroyer VIII Urashima with Commander Mina Hurray
  
• Cruiser VIII Svyatozar with Commander Ivan K. Ulibin
  
• Battleship VIII Magnu-S with Commander Klaus V. Teslau

Operations become available only after unlocking access to them in the Service Record. Novice players can unlock access to Operations by playing 30 battles in any accessible battle mode.

https://steamcommunity.com/games/552990/announcements/detail/1557608851912200290

Welcome to a new game mode called Raid for the Filth!

The new mode will be available from October 31 till November 28.

In the new mode, three teams with three players in each fight against one another, as well as a horde of dark forces controlled by AI. Your primary task is to collect a special resource called “Filth.” A dedicated section of the Armory will let you exchange Filth for various rewards, including camouflages styled as monster ships, and a new type of permanent camouflage for Tier VIII–X ships.

More details about the new mode and its rewards will follow in a separate article. Stay tuned for news on our website!

The seventh season of Clan Battles, codenamed "Crash Zone Alpha," will be held between October 23 and December 9 in an "8 vs. 8" format.

More details about the rules of the Season and its rewards will follow in a separate article on our website.


After listening to the numerous requests of our players, we’ve introduced some changes to the spotting and detectability system.

Now, the penalty to a ship’s detectability after firing a shot will be reset 2 seconds after she leaves an enemy ship's line of sight (e.g. by hiding behind an island).

We've also added a period of guaranteed acquisition: if a ship is detected by an opponent, it will remain visible to the enemy for at least 2 seconds. This change will eliminate those cases when an enemy ship "flickers" at the edge of the line of sight—i.e. appearing and disappearing from the map in rapid succession.

As a result, if your ship leaves an opponent's line of sight 1 second after you were detected, you'll continue to be visible to the enemy ship for a further 2 seconds. However, if your ship was visible to the enemy ship for 2 seconds before leaving the enemy ship's line of sight, you'll disappear from the enemy's view immediately.

• Main battery reload time has been reduced from 6.5 to 6 seconds

VII Błyskawica was one of the first Premium ships to appear in World of Warships. Since her release, the game has changed a lot, and there are new ships now that are played in a similar style. The accelerated reload time of her main battery will increase the damage she can deal and strengthen the role of the destroyer in the current meta.

• New Type 91 mod. 0 torpedoes have been installed instead of the previous Type 91 mod. 1. The new torpedoes have a speed of 40 knots instead of 50 knots
  
• The speed of torpedo bombers returning to the carrier has been reduced by 40%

Due to the high cruising speed and returning speed of torpedo bombers, experienced players were able to safely rely on the use of torpedo bombers only. Both changes listed above will increase the amount of damage taken by torpedo bombers. Now, the climb after an attack will be slower, and to effectively attack, torpedo bombers will also have to fly closer to their targets. The new speed will reduce the effectiveness of torpedo bombers against destroyers, giving them an opportunity to maneuver and evade.

Having powerful torpedo bombers is one of the main features of Japanese aircraft carriers. With these changes, we plan to balance the performance of Tier IV carriers, but will also continue to monitor the situation and, if necessary, make further changes.

• Torpedo speed has been reduced from 57 to 52 knots
  
• Main battery reload time has been increased from 4.8 to 5.2 seconds

• Torpedo speed has been reduced from 57 to 52 knots
  
• Main battery reload time has been increased from 6 to 6.6 seconds

• Main battery reload time has been increased from 6 to 6.6 seconds

Unlike their higher-tier counterparts, these low-tier French destroyers don’t yet have the explicit gameplay of gunboats, and therefore their damage output is roughly divided equally between their torpedoes and main battery.

The proposed changes are designed to reduce the total damage these ships deal without changing the ratio of damage dealt by torpedoes and the main battery. Moreover, the torpedoes carried by II Enseigne Gabolde and III Fusilier were previously too fast for these tiers, taking their range into account.

• Sigma parameter has been changed from 1.7 to 1.6

The battleship's main battery had excessive firing accuracy. By changing this parameter, we are reducing her firing accuracy at all ranges of combat, without changing the specific accuracy settings of Soviet battleships.

• For AP shells, we’ve reduced the maximum damage from 15,500 to 14,500, and changed some other related parameters
  
• For HE shells, we’ve reduced the maximum damage (from 6,600 to 6,500), the chances of causing fire (from 48% to 45%), and some other related parameters

The efficiency of X Kremlin was higher than that of other battleships at Tier X. To balance the ship, and at the same time have minimal impact on the defining features of the battleship, we’ve changed the characteristics of her shells. Along with the above changes, we’ve slightly changed the armor penetration and ballistics.


In Update 0.8.8, we rolled out a massive update to the audio component of the game. Unfortunately, it was only after the Update went out that we came across certain bugs. Most of them were fixed with the release of Update 0.8.8.1, but we are continuing to work on the game audio in Update 0.8.9.

• The fire alarm siren that goes off when a ship is on fire will now be played back only if the ship has at least three zones afflicted by fire.
  
• Reduced the playback volume of the sound of forts firing in Operation "Narai."
  
• Reconfigured the loudness of gunfire for main and secondary batteries, AA guns, and torpedo launchers for friendly and hostile ships.
  
• Fixed an issue which disabled the gunfire sounds of the main and secondary batteries, AA guns, and torpedo launchers on ships mounted with Post-Apocalyptic camouflages.
  
• Fixed an issue which disabled the playback of the sound notifying a player that the main battery has been reloaded on ships mounted with a Space camouflage.
  
• Fixed some glitches which, once Space or Halloween-themed camouflages were mounted, disabled the playback of aircraft engine sounds after activating the Spotting Aircraft/Fighter consumables; the playback of fire alarm sounds; and the engine sounds for aircraft carriers.
  
• Fixed an issue which prevented the playback of special voiceovers for certain Commanders.
  
• Fixed an issue which caused a ship's horn on certain ships to malfunction after mounting a permanent camouflage.
  
• Fixed an issue which sometimes unexpectedly disabled weather-related sounds on certain maps.
  
• Fixed other minor issues affecting the playback of sounds.

The "Ultra" quality option is now available in Audio settings:

• Intensified sounds of gun fire
  
• Vibrant post effects of shell hits
  
• Distance-specific sound delays: the greater the distance, the longer the delay for the sounds of explosions, hits and shots
  
• Increased the 'reach of sound' distance for battle sounds
  
• Set maximum quality for the conversion of many frequently-reproduced sounds
  
• Enhanced ambient sounds
  
• Fire alarm sound now depends on the number of fires on the ship
  
• Improved aircraft engine sounds: more realistic sound behavior in space with the Doppler effect added

A new group of ships—special ships—has been added, uniting the following categories:

• Rental ships
  
• Event ships
  
• Early Access ships
  
• Non-researchable ships without increased profitability

The new group will appear in the filtering criteria of the ships' carousel in the Port, so as to help players distinguish between Premium ships with increased profitability and other types of non-researchable ships.

Apart from that, we’ve updated the descriptions for all groups of ships in the Modules section.

Previously, with the display of special camouflages in the Port disabled, ships in battle would be displayed without any camouflage. This could lead to a player believing that an allied or a hostile ship didn't have any combat bonuses applied from a camouflage. In Update 0.8.9, we've resolved this issue. Now, if a player disables the display of special camouflages, in battle they will see the permanent camouflage of a ship instead, and if that’s not available—the Type 5 expendable camouflage.

Please note: players that have disabled the display of special camouflages will still not be able to mount them on their ships.

To make it more convenient to hold tournaments and other activities, the Training Room will now offer an option to enter battles in Spectator mode, i.e. without a ship.

Read more >>>



We've added a "Battle of Leyte Gulf" commemorative flag and the "Type 21" and "MS-21" expendable camouflages with the following characteristics:

• −3% to the ship's detectability range by sea
  
• +4% to the dispersion of shells fired by the enemy at your ship
  
• +100% XP per battle
  
• +20% credits per battle

More info on how to obtain them will be available later. Stay tuned for news on combat missions on our website!

The following ships have been added for testing by developers, supertesters, and community contributors: Italian cruiser VII Gorizia and German cruiser VIII Mainz.

• The Naval Base Port is now available to all players.
  
• Coach screens have been replaced with pop-up hints for upgrades, signals, camouflages, and flags.
  
• We’ve enhanced the system for the rendering of trees.
  
• Camouflages will now be divided into 2 categories in the Port: permanent and expendable.
  
• A player's progress in the Service Record will no longer be displayed in post-battle statistics.
  
• We've changed the settings of the scale reflecting the maneuverability characteristics of a ship in the Port to ensure that ships with a high maximum speed are displayed correctly. This resulted in a minor change in a ship's maneuverability value compared to the previous Update. The ship's characteristics, however, have not changed.
  
• Players that don't have Warships Premium Account will be able to get it via the "Credits and XP" tab of the post-battle statistics screen.
  
• The Clan Base loading time has been reduced.
  
• The restriction on the use of the "Attention to Sector" command has now been lifted in the Training Room, in Clan Battles, and during Operations pursued by a Division at full strength.
  
• We’ve fixed the incorrect placement of a pop-up hint about a ship's armor in the Port.
  
• Fixed an issue which sometimes caused the filtering criteria for Commanders in the ships carousel to be reset after logging back in to the game.

Version 0.8.9 starts a cycle of Updates focusing on Italian cruisers.

In this article, you'll find out how to unlock early access to the ships, and what you can acquire in exchange for Italian Tokens.

• 42 missions across four Directives
  
• Completing the missions of the Directives and special combat missions for Italian cruisers will bring you a new temporary resource—Italian Tokens
  
• Italian Tokens can also be obtained from Daily Shipments and for completing Daily Missions
  
  • For one chain of Daily Missions, you'll earn 10 Italian Tokens
    
  • For both Daily Mission chains, you'll acquire 20 Italian Tokens
• Italian Cruisers containers can be obtained for completing Directives and from Daily Shipments
  
  • The containers have a certain chance of dropping a combat mission that grants you early access to Tier V–VIII Italian cruisers once completed
• In Update 0.8.10, Tier I–X Italian cruisers will become available for all players to research in the Tech Tree

All players will have access to the Daily Shipments’ rewards: Italian Tokens, doubloons, credits, camos, Premium Account time, and Italian Cruisers containers.

Playing smoothly in Update 0.8.9, and having completed six missions in each of the first two Directives, players will be able to obtain up to four Italian Cruisers containers and 690 Italian Tokens—equivalent to one of the following rewards in the Armory:

• 5 days of Warships Premium Account
• 57 Regia Marina camouflage patterns
  
• 5,100,000 credits
  
• Up to 280 signals
  
• Permanent camos for researchable Tier V, VI, or VII Italian cruisers
  
• 9x random Patria e Onore bundles that offer a chance of obtaining cruiser V Genova
• 9x Italian Cruisers containers that have a certain chance of dropping you doubloons or missions that unlock early access to Italian cruisers

Having completed all of the four Directives, players will receive 10 Italian Cruisers containers and 1,470 Italian Tokens that can be exchanged in the Armory for the following rewards:

• 12 days of Warships Premium Account
• 122x Regia Marina camouflage patterns
  
• 10,950,000 credits
  
• Up to 610 signals
  
• Permanent camos for researchable Tier V, VI, VII, or VIII Italian cruisers
  
• 21x random Patria e Onore bundles that offer a chance of obtaining cruiser V Genova
• 21x Italian Cruisers containers that carry a certain chance of dropping you doubloons or missions that unlock early access to Italian cruisers

The top players who have completed all missions of the four Directives and all Daily Missions will receive 2,330 Italian Tokens which can be exchanged for the following rewards in the Armory:

• 19 days of Warships Premium Account
• 194x Regia Marina camouflage patterns
  
• 17,400,000 credits
  
• Up to 970 signals
  
• Permanent camos for researchable Tier V, VI, VII, or VIII Italian cruisers
  
• 22x random Patria e Onore bundles with a guarantee of dropping cruiser V Genova
• 33x Italian Cruisers containers that have a certain chance of dropping you doubloons or missions that unlock early access to Italian cruisers

The main feature of Update 0.8.9 is the chance that it offers to be among the first to try out the researchable Italian Tier V–VIII ships. But what makes Italian cruisers so special?

The newcomers are notable for their maneuverability and powerful 203 mm guns with heavyweight broadside salvoes on Tier VI cruisers and higher. The unique features of Italian cruisers include semi-armor-piercing (SAP) shells and the Exhaust Smoke Generator consumable.

• SAP shells may ricochet after hitting their target, but have smaller ricochet angles than AP shells
  
• If your hit doesn't ricochet, the armor penetration mechanics are similar to those of HE shells
  
• They can't overpenetrate targets
  
• They can't start fires on enemy ships
  
• They cause higher damage and can penetrate thicker armor than HE shells

SAP shells can steadily inflict large amounts of regular damage to enemy ships.

The difference between the Exhaust Smoke Generator and the standard Smoke Generator is that the former conceals a ship without her reducing the speed. This consumable works for 25–40 seconds, with smoke dissipating in 10 seconds.

In this Update, players will be able to unlock early access to Tier V–VIII Italian cruisers.

The new game event tasks you with completing 42 missions across four Directives. A new Directive will open each week, and you can start progressing in the next Directive only once you've completed six missions from the previous one. To obtain the final award, you have to complete eight missions of the fourth Directive.


Missions can be completed in Random and Co-op Battles. Some missions can be completed in Clan Battles, Operations, and Twilight Battles—a temporary battle type dedicated to the celebration of Halloween. You’ll find more details in the game client.

Please note: starting from Update 0.8.8, the opening and closing time of Directives corresponds to the beginning of each new game session day—07:00 CEST (UTC+2).

The first Directive will become available after Update 0.8.9 is released and the maintenance downtime is over. The opening dates of the second, third, and fourth Directives are October 22, October 29, and November 5, respectively.
Directives can be completed until: Tue. 12 Nov. 07:00 CEST (UTC+2)

Completing missions and Directives will bring you signals, expendable camouflage patterns, Coal, Elite Commander XP, Italian Cruisers containers, and Italian Tokens.


After completing the fourth Directive, you’ll gain access to the Hall of Fame. The Hall of Fame lets you cross swords with the best players out there. Rewards will be issued to every Commander who scores at least one point by the special rules of the Hall.

For more details, check out the rules for rewards and crediting of Hall of Fame points, available in the game client.

You can earn Italian Tokens for:

• Completing all the missions and Directives of the Italian Cruisers event—up to 1,790 Tokens
  
• Completing Daily Missions October 17 through November 12—up to 540 Tokens
  
• Completing combat missions on V Genova, V Raimondo Montecuccoli, VI Trento, VII Zara, and VIII Amalfi—100 Tokens per mission
  
  • To complete the mission, it's necessary to earn 15,000 base XP in Operations, Random, Clan, or Co-op Battles

Combat missions can be completed until: Thu. 14 Nov. 07:00 CEST (UTC+2)

In total, you can earn 2,830 Italian Tokens throughout the Update. After the release of Update 0.8.10, they can be obtained only from Italian Cruisers Premium containers. With the release of Update 0.8.11, all Italian Tokens will be converted to credits at a rate of 1 : 4,500.

• Regia Marina expendable camouflage pattern
  
• Credits
  
• Days of Warships Premium Account
  
• Signals
  
• Italian Cruisers containers
  
• Grigio-azzurro chiaro permanent camos for ships Raimondo Montecuccoli, Trento, Zara, and Amalfi. The camo is painted in shades of light blue and gray—the standard coloring for the Italian Royal Navy ships of the initial period of World War 2
  
• Random Patria e Onore bundles

• Detectability range by sea: −3%
• Dispersion of shells fired by the enemy attacking your ship: +4%
• XP per battle: +100%
• Commander XP: +50%
• Free XP: +100%

The Italian Cruisers section of the Armory will offer random bundles at the price of 70 Italian Tokens each.

• All the rewards are visible in advance: the bundles’ contents and their amounts are displayed when viewing the currently available bundle
  
• After each exchange, you’ll be able to see the contents of a new random bundle out of 22 available
  
• Having collected all 22 bundles, you're guaranteed to have obtained all the available rewards, including Italian cruiser V Genova

If you obtain V Genova from a random bundle and already have this ship in your Port, you'll get a Commander, Port slot, and compensation for the ship in the form of doubloons.

Daily Shipments and the event’s Directives will bring you Italian Cruisers containers.

• 1x Regia Marina camouflage pattern
  
• One of the following: 1x special signal (Dragon, Hydra, Ouroboros, or Red Dragon), 100x doubloons, or 1x Type 59 camo
  
• One of the following: 1x special signal (Dragon, Scylla, Leviathan, or Basilisk) or 500x Free XP
  
• A chance to get a special combat mission for one of the Italian cruisers: V Raimondo Montecuccoli, VI Trento, VII Zara, or VIII Amalfi

• 50x Italian Tokens
  
• One of the following: 10x special signals or 150x doubloons
  
• One of the following: 7x Regia Marina camos or 7x Type 59 camos
  
• A chance to get a special combat mission for one of the Italian cruisers: V Raimondo Montecuccoli, VI Trento, VII Zara, or VIII Amalfi

The chances of getting a combat mission from Italian Cruisers Premium containers is higher than from standard containers.

• The mission for any particular ship can be dropped only once
  
• To complete the mission, you'll need to earn 10,000 to 16,000 base XP playing Tier V–X ships in Operations, Random, Clan, Ranked, or Co-op Battles
  
• Combat missions can be completed until December 31
  
• All ships come with a Port slot and Commander with 3 skill points
  
• In Update 0.8.9, you won’t be able to research the next ship in the Italian cruiser branch

During Update 0.8.9, if you log in to the game during the period from October 17 through October 31, you can get the following rewards via the Daily Shipments section.

You can get a total of 10 rewards, while the shipments are available for 14 days. This means that after you enter the game for the first time, you'll have 14 days to obtain 10 rewards—one per day. Thus, you can skip four days out of two weeks and still claim all the valuable rewards.

• 3x Regia Marina camouflage patterns
  
• 50,000 credits
  
• 25 Italian Tokens
  
• 1 day of Warships Premium Account
• 1x Italian Cruisers container
  
• 3x Regia Marina camouflage patterns
  
• 50,000 credits
  
• 50 doubloons
  
• 25x Italian Tokens
  
• 1x Italian Cruisers container

Be among the first to try out Italian cruisers!